


Demons

by sharpiesgal (TigerLily)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerLily/pseuds/sharpiesgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death is something no one can out run no matter how clever they think they are.</p><p>Tony Stark is dying of palladium poisoning and is setting his affairs in order when he meets a woman who gives him a reason to keep on living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Revealation

**Author's Note:**

> “I loved her not for the way she danced with my angels, but for the way the sound of her name could silence my demons.” Gomez Addams
> 
> This is essentially a retelling of the events that took place in Iron Man 2.

Pepper punched in the code to Tony’s workshop with angry determination. She was a woman on a mission, and that mission was to have a serious conversation with Tony concerning his recent behavior in the wake of his announcement that he was Iron Man.

First, he had decided to turn over the day to day running of Stark Industries to her without so much as asking her or offering to find her help. Secondly, he had started giving away many of his material possessions.

It was radical behavior for even somebody who’s normal behavior was considered off the wall. It had taken her some time to accept it sensing that there was more to it than just Tony wanting to shed his irresponsible playboy persona.

She had been ready to chalk it up to his brush with death while dealing with the huge mess his mentor, Obadiah Stane, had created in his greedy attempt to steal Stark Industries, but his latest stunt had changed her mind.

She couldn’t believe he had given away his valuable art collection. A collection she had managed for the better part of ten years. She was ready to wring his scrawny neck for it.

“Tony!” she called out once she was inside.

“Hmmm....” Tony responded not bothering to look up from the string of calculations he was trying to solve. He wasn’t having much luck since his mind refused to concentrate on them. Dying had an interesting way of putting things in perspective, and calculations for another suit were not on the menu.

“You’re an asshole,” she bluntly told him with a not so gentle slap to the back of the head. She didn’t like being humored when she was angry.

“Ow!” he grumbled finally looking up at Pepper and rubbing the back of his head. “What did I do now?”

“Did you just donate your modern art collection to the Boy Scouts?!” she asked knowing he had done so, but wanting to know Tony’s reasoning for doing so.

“Yes,” Tony warily answered. “They are a wonderful organization and I could use the tax write-off.”

“It took me ten years to put it together and on a whim you just throw it away for a tax write-off that you don’t need,” she snapped ready to slap him again.

“Clearly you are upset about something other than the art collection,” Tony cautiously surmised. “So what have I done or not done this time?”

“You disappear to God knows where in your self-appointed mission to bring peace to the world while leaving me here to deal with the day to day business of running your company and catching the heat when decisions I make are unpopular or not seen as in the best interest of said company,” Pepper ranted truly surprised by her unresolved feelings concerning her place in Tony’s life.

“I’m sorry for doing that to you,” Tony began knowing what he was going to say next would further ruffle her feathers. “But we both know I haven’t been interested in running Stark Industries for awhile now.”

“Yes, your one man crusade is more important,” Pepper quipped sarcastically as her temper finally got the better of her control.

“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”

“The truth often is,” Pepper countered as she tried to reign in her temper. Getting into a shouting match with Tony wouldn’t solve anything and would only cause him to become more stubborn in his desire to be seen as something other than a warmonger.

“Your point is?”

“I want you to stop and think about the position you have put me in,” she told him. “I can’t be your personal assistant and run your company at the same time. It’s impossible.”

Tony nodded. He could understand that since he had tried once he had inherited the company to run it without a personal assistant. It hadn’t been pretty, and the day Pepper had agreed to become his personal assistant had been a wish come true. “How about I have Jarvis find us both a personal assistant?”

“Okay,” Pepper warily agreed. She had the sinking feeling that Tony was up to something. “But you didn’t suggest that just to humor me, did you?”

“No,” Tony quickly answered. “I know better than that.”

“After fifteen years of friendship, I certainly hope so,” Pepper muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“What if I also told you that I have been looking into the company by-laws and they say I can appoint anyone to be my successor?”

“So?” Pepper prompted in hopes of getting Tony to reveal his future plans, so she could get ready to clean up the mess they would create.

“So,” Tony hedged with a wry grin widening the gap between them with a quick push of his stool. He wouldn’t put it past her to just slap the shit out of him. “I just want somebody I can trust to be my heir and you are that person.”

Pepper wanted to say, “Lucky me”, but she bit her tongue to keep it inside and instead asked, “Why do you need an heir all of a sudden?”

“You are going to need to sit down for this,” Tony said as he stood and motioned for her to take his seat.

“Tony?” she asked slowly sinking down onto the stool Tony had just vacated. He was beginning to scare her and she hated it when he did that.

“All the stuff I’ve been doing of late is about my legacy,” Tony replied. “I want to be remembered for being something other than the Merchant of Death.”

“I understand that, but you’re scaring me,” Pepper remarked with a soft tremble in her voice. “Only people who are dying of a terminal illness talk like that.”

“I know,” Tony quietly admitted as he leaned against his workbench. “But I am dying.”

“What? How?”

“It’s called palladium poisoning, and if I don’t find another way to power the arc reactor, then I’ll be dead within the next six months,” Tony explained matter-of-factly.

“How can you be so calm about this?”

“I’ve had some time to come to terms with it,” Tony admitted with a shrug.

“Since Afghanistan,” Pepper guessed as she tried to accept the fact that her best friend was dying.

“Since the moment I put the first reactor in my chest.”

“My God, Tony, why?!”

“Because I didn’t feel inclined to help the man who had been hired to kill me,” Tony bitterly retorted. He didn’t like thinking about what happened in Afghanistan because doing so gave him nightmares. “And, because I woke up in a cave to a car battery attached to my chest and to a man whom I briefly met at a conference in Switzerland explaining that I was essentially a walking dead man thanks to me following in my father’s warmongering footsteps.” 

“Keep going, but with less diatribe.”

Tony rolled his eyes at Pepper’s dig even though he knew she was right. “I built the arc reactor to keep me alive so I could escape and get back here to find out who wanted me dead and why.”

“Stane,” Pepper murmured bitterly. She had never liked the man and to discover that he had wanted Tony dead so he could have Stark Industries all to himself hadn’t been much of a surprise.

Tony nodded. Stane’s betrayal had hurt more than he had ever let on. In fact, it still stung months later, and made him extremely cautious of whom he let into his inner circle. “I knew going in that I was essentially signing my death certificate, but the shrapnel trying to crawl its way to my heart would be a more painful death.”

“Okay,” Pepper sighed. “I’m certain you could probably explain that in greater detail, but I don’t want to know.”

“You really don’t,” Tony reassured her remembering what Yinsen had described to him once he had been awake for a few hours. “So let’s get the ball rolling on making you my heir apparent.”

“Are you certain you want to do this?”

“You have been my best, and at times my only friend these fifteen years, and there is no one else I trust more with my company,” Tony answered seriously. “You will steer it to a better future than I ever would have.”

“Okay,” Pepper reluctantly agreed. “I’ll call Legal and see if we can speed the process up, but for the love of God could you keep the disappearances to a minimum in case I need your advice on something.”

“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best,” Tony said not letting on that any use of the Iron Man suit aggravated his condition. Pepper had enough worries on her plate.

“Thank you,” Pepper said before standing up and giving Tony a fierce hug and a gentle slap to the back of his head.

“Feeling the love there, Pep,” Tony grumbled as he pulled away.

“I have to keep you humble somehow,” Pepper gently teased despite still feeling unsettled by what Tony had divulged to her.

Tony refrained from sticking his tongue out at Pepper as she left the workshop to continue running what would soon be her company.


	2. Transfer of Power

“Tony,” Pepper called out as she entered the mansion’s gym days later. Jarvis had let her know that Tony was there for his weekly training session with his body guard, Happy Hogan. “The notary is here. Time to sign over your company.”

Tony ducked a punch from Happy and kicked the other man in the gut causing Happy to lecture him on what was good and not good sportsmanship. He turned away from the lecture and found himself caught up in a pair of cat green eyes as a young woman with cooper hair followed Pepper into the room.

He couldn’t remember if he had ever encounter a woman with those color of eyes before, but there was something about them that said they had seen more than the owner cared to remember. He understood that feeling and couldn’t wait to get to know this woman better, if it were possible for him to do so.

Happy smacked him on the back of his head gear to get his attention, but Tony blew him off by pulling off his head gear and climbing out of the ring. He wandered over to sit next to Pepper still totally mesmerized by the notary republic.

“Who are you?” Tony inquired. Anytime he had to deal with anyone from Stark Industries’ legal department it was a crabby old man in a seersucker suit, so this young woman standing in front of him and Pepper was a breath of fresh air in more ways than one.

“Natalie Rushman,” the notary replied with a polite smile. “I’m from Legal.”

“I want one,” he said once he was settled beside Pepper.

Pepper poked him in the side and then whispered in his ear once she had his attention, “She will be a very expensive sexual harassment suit, if you don’t stop thinking with your dick.”

“Might be worth it,” he retorted as he finally focused his attention on Pepper while taking a large swig of chlorophyll from his sports bottle.

“Tony,” Pepper sighed in exasperation hoping to get him to focus for however long it would take for them to take care of the transition paperwork.

“Right,” Tony muttered as he pulled off his boxing gloves and tossed them onto the floor. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Miss Rushman?” Pepper prompted.

Natalie opened her portfolio and shuffled some papers around as she quietly quelled her amusement of Tony’s reaction to her. She had been warned about Tony Stark’s player mentality, so was ready to shut him down if necessary to complete her mission. “This will be relatively painless. I need an imprint from you, Mr. Stark and your signature on the following page, Miss Potts,” she told the friends.

Tony accepted the contract without his usual remark of not liking to be handed things, which Natalie filed away for future reference. He put his thumb print at the X on the page before handing it to Pepper to sign.

Pepper bit back a smile at how cooperative Tony was being. She had expected some form of drama because that was Tony, but was pleasantly surprised that he left his drama-llama act in his workshop. She took the contract and flipped the page. She accepted a pen from Natalie and quickly signed where indicated, and then returned the contract to her.

“Thank you,” Natalie told them as she filed away the contract. “Will there be anything else?”

Tony opened his mouth to answer the question, but Pepper pinching him on the arm quickly shut down whatever game he was thinking about playing.

“That will be all,” Pepper said with a forced smile. “Thank you, Miss Rushman.”

Natalie nodded and left the gym. This mission was going to be very interesting after all.


	3. The Past Returns

Tony hadn’t wanted to go to Monaco, but he promised Pepper that he would keep all scheduled appearances during the transition of power. A united front was needed as the board members of Stark Industries got use to having a female CEO.

His replacing the driver in the Stark Industries car may have been sheer rebellion, so he was willing to endure Pepper lecturing him for the duration of the weekend since he always believed in asking for forgiveness instead of permission. What he hadn’t expected was Ivan Vanko and his crazy ass suit.

He had questioned the man and only received cryptic answers, which had him thinking about contacting Phil Coulson and seeing what SHIELD knew about the man and his need for revenge.

Instead, he placed that idea on a back burner since he needed to soothe Pepper’s ruffled feathers once again and was stumped as to how he could go about it since his dying body was demanding his complete attention.

“What were you thinking Tony?! Are you determined to finish what was started in Afghanistan?!” Pepper exclaimed once their jet was in the air unable to keep her fear, frustration and anger to herself any longer. “You aren’t a qualified race car driver despite the numerous speeding tickets you’ve received over the years racing Happy up and down the PCH.”

“I wasn’t,” Tony admitted with his eyes firmly closed behind his sunglasses as he fought off a wave of sickness that came after use of one of his suits. “Can we just leave it at that, please?”

“I swear you are going to drive me insane one of these days,” she retorted in exasperation while noticing that Tony wasn’t paying attention to her. “We’ll have a conversation about this later.”

“As you wish,” Tony murmured grateful he wouldn’t have to deal with Pepper’s lecture on what constitutes appropriate behavior and what didn’t at that particular moment since he knew from experience that it was quite lengthy.

“Are you alright, Mr. Stark?” The quietly spoken question broke into his chaotic thoughts in the slightly accented voice of Pepper’s new personal assistant, Natalie Rushman. He had had her prompted from Legal since he knew that Pepper needed someone to help her deal with the day to day running of Stark Industries, but she had insisted that Natalie also serve as his personal assistant since he had conveniently forgotten to get Jarvis to find him one.

Tony raised his head and let his sunglasses slip down his nose before replying with, “Peachy keen,” and then flashed her a weakened version of his patented smirk.

“Would you like a cocktail?” she asked trying to break the tension that had built up in the cabin between him and Pepper. She could tell they were sharing a secret that ironically was well known in the circles that Tony used to inhabit pre-Afghanistan.

“No, thank you,” Tony answered forcing himself to be cheery when he felt like crawling into a hole and pulling it in after himself.

“Certainly,” Natalie murmured in reply. “Miss Potts?”

“No, thank you, Natalie,” Pepper quietly answered. “I need to be clear headed to handle the board members once we land in L.A.”

“But of course,” Natalie agreed before making her way back toward the galley and reporting to Fury about the events at Monaco.


	4. Birthday Surprises

Tony spent the better part of the day of his scheduled birthday party puttering around his workshop while Jarvis continued his search for a viable element that could run the arc reactor as well as or better than palladium.

They both knew they were quickly running out of time, and Tony was almost to the point of giving up and just letting nature take its course. One can only cheat death so many times before the Reaper personally came to collect the soul he was owed.

Tony looked up from tinkering with the right gauntlet of the suit he was planning on giving Rhodey the next time he saw him when Jarvis notified him that they had a visitor. He turned on his stool and faced the door not surprised to see Natalie Rushman standing there about to enter her security code when Jarvis opened the door for her.

“Miss Rushman,” Tony purred with false cheer once Jarvis had allowed her in. “What can I do for you?”

“It’s time for you to get ready for your birthday party,” Natalie informed him as she silently took stock of his appearance. The symptoms of palladium poisoning were becoming more and more apparent with each passing day.

She knew she needed to do something to get Fury to help Stark before it was too late, but Tony wasn’t helping her with his unexpected good behavior.

“That time already?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Tony sighed as he stood up. “J keeping working on that problem, will you.” He had given Jarvis the task of searching for anything concerning Ivan Vanko when he had bothered to remember to think about the man and his need for revenge.

“Certainly, sir,” Jarvis replied. “Anything else?”

“Keep the suits on lock down,” Tony answered. “I have a feeling tonight might get a tad bit interesting.”

“Expecting trouble?” Natalie asked hoping Tony would give her something to work with and thus get Fury to turn over all the stuff of Howard Stark’s he had been sitting on since becoming director of SHIELD.

“No,” Tony replied with a tired grin. “But, my birthday parties have been known to get a little wild once the liquor starts flowing.”

“I see,” Natalie murmured thinking if she could get Tony drunk, he would do the rest for her.

“Not yet, you haven’t,” Tony tossed the warning over his shoulder as he exited the workshop.

*&*&*&

Tony had figured out early on from the concerned looks he had received from both Pepper and Rhodey that Natalie was trying to get him drunk and therefore do something epically stupid, but he couldn’t figure out why, so he played along waiting for her to reveal something. He wasn’t in the mood to get burned again.

Natalie knew she had been made when she saw Tony settle into a chair with a glass of ice water once the party started to settle down. She walked over to him in an attempt to salvage her mission and got pulled down into his lap for her effort.

“I know what you are up to,” he whispered in her ear. “And normally, it would have worked, but you see I made a dying man a promise and I intend on keeping it.”

“What promise was that?” she inquired curious about the man who could have that much power over such a notorious playboy.

“I promised that I would stop acting like an irresponsible jackass,” Tony quietly replied. “No more wild parties, meaningless sex and drinking until I pass out.”

“I see,” Natalie murmured knowing that such a promise was hard to keep and impressed that Tony was trying to do so, even in the face of dying a painful death. It didn’t help her complete her mission, so she was going to have to rethink how she could get Tony to do something to get Fury’s attention before he died.

“So tell me,” Tony said looking her directly in the eye. “Who are you really working for and what does your boss want from me?”

Natalie briefly considered lying in order to keep her cover intact and thus complete her mission, but there was something in Tony’s eyes that made her pause and rethink that course of action. It was something that seemed to speak to her soul and that bothered her because Clint Barton and Phil Coulson were the only two men to have ever reached her on that level. “I work for SHIELD,” she finally answered.

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” Tony remarked and truly meant it. He knew from the little conversation he had had with Nick Fury after he outted himself as Iron Man, that the other man would be keeping an eye on him to make certain that none of his technology fell into the wrong hands again. “So what is your real name?”

“Natasha Romanov.”

“That’s a nice Russian name,” Tony observed.

“Yes, it is,” Natalie agreed.

“I prefer Natalie.”

“Many do.”

“I don’t want to know, do I?”

“No.”

“In that case, how’s Nick been?”

“Busy,” Natalie replied mildly surprised by Tony’s calm reaction to being spied on by a super secret government agency.

“No doubt,” Tony said with a slight grin. “So what does he want from me?”

“He was curious as to why you have suddenly started selling off or just giving away much of your personal possessions,” Natalie answered.

“I’m fairly certain he already had the answer to that question before he sent you in,” Tony countered. “So?”

“He wants to help you deal with the palladium poisoning, but he’s not the kind of person to come right out and offer to help,” Natalie explained.

“I get that with him being a spy and all,” Tony acknowledged. “But, can you tell him that I am officially asking for help without me making any messes for Pepper to clean up?”

“I think I can manage that, so Colonel Rhodes won’t have to come up here and confiscate your suits,” Natalie said with her tongue firmly planted in her cheek.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed. He knew she was alluding to the hearing of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee that he had been called in front of. It hadn’t been pretty since the chairman had been determined to get into a pissing match with him over the Iron Man suit. “I didn’t handle that Senate hearing very well, but Sterns could make Donald Trump look like a rocket scientist.”

Natalie looked down and away to hide the slight twitch of amusement her lips had quirked into at Tony’s analogy.

Tony slipped a finger under her chin and made her look up. He could see amusement dancing in her eyes and decided to give into his desire to kiss her, but erred on the side of caution to warn her first. “If I were to kiss you now, would you kill me for being so brazen?”

“No,” Natalie breathed surprised that she wanted him to kiss her. “We can consider it your birthday present from me.”

“I like the idea of that,” Tony said as he lowered his head and took her mouth in a soft yet tentative kiss.

*&*&*&

“Are you all right, sir?” Jarvis inquired several minutes after Tony had silently entered the darkened workshop.

“I’m fine, J,” Tony quietly answered. He had come down to the workshop after his birthday party had come to its natural conclusion in need of a place where he could regroup in peace since his life had taken another unexpected turn.

“If you say so, sir,” Jarvis countered.

“Are you sassing me, J?”

“Of course not, sir.” Jarvis answered not unlike the butler he had been patterned after.

“Right,” Tony murmured sarcastically. “I’m just reading emotion into it.”

“Is there something I can help you with?” Jarvis asked in an attempt to change the direction of the conversation.

“No, J, this is something I’m going to have to figure out on my own,” Tony replied alluding to his burgeoning relationship with Natalie Rushman. She had returned his kiss, but ended it before it could lead to more since neither of them needed the complication of a one night stand.

He stood up having decided to call it a night since he needed sleep more than anything else at that particular moment in time. Dying really took a lot out of a person.

“Goodnight, J,” he told Jarvis with a soft chuckle of dark amusement at the turn of his thoughts as he made his way out of the darkened workshop.

“Goodnight, sir,” Jarvis replied as he silently monitored Tony’s progress through out the mansion.


	5. Breakfast with a Spy

“Good morning, sir,” Jarvis announced before he began to read the morning news.

Tony rolled over and swore. He tried to bury his head under his people since he didn’t want to be awake at such an ungodly hour, but it seemed that the world had other ideas.

He crawled out of bed and went about making himself somewhat presentable since he had a feeling that Natalie would find a way to get him and Nick Fury to sit down in the same room at some point.

*&*&*&

He wandered into the kitchen in search of coffee and maybe some breakfast when he was drawn up short at the scene of Natalie making breakfast while Nick Fury sat at his seldom used kitchen table. He wanted to pinch himself in case he was still dreaming.

“Good morning, Tony,” he heard Nick say once the other man spotted him in the doorway of the kitchen. “No need to pinch yourself since this isn’t a dream.”

Tony pinched himself anyway since he never liked being told what to do before his first pot of coffee causing Nick to shake his head at him.

He entered the kitchen and settled into the chair across from Nick and inquired of Natalie, “What’s for breakfast?”

“Ham and cheese omelets and french toast,” Natalie tossed over her shoulder as she continued to keep a weathered eye on what she was cooking.

“Sounds and smells delicious,” Tony remarked quietly wondering what other skills Natalie had hidden up her sleeve.

“We’ll see,” Natalie countered. “My cooking skills are a bit rusty.”

“That’s okay,” Tony said with a wry grin. “Mine are non-existent.”

“So,” Nick interjected reminding the pair that he was still in the room. “What is it that I can do for you?”

“I’m dying and I need help finding a replacement for palladium,” Tony bluntly answered. “And before you ask, Jarvis and I have tried every possible combination of every element and nothing works.”

“I know you do not think very highly of your father,” Nick began to explain. “But he was a good man and even better scientist.”

Tony bit back the sarcastic remark that popped into his head when Nick mentioned his father. He and Howard constantly butted heads when the other man was alive and not off searching for his good friend, Steve Rogers, aka Captain America.

“He was also one of the founding members of SHIELD and a good friend to me.”

“Are you saying in a not so subtle way that my father, who has been dead for twenty years, may have the solution to my problem?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Tony quietly remarked not surprised that most of his problems of late stemmed from his father. He never could really get out from under Howard’s shadow. “So what do I need to do to get said solution?”

“You’ll eat breakfast first,” Natalie directed as she placed plates heaped with food in front of each man. “And then you will politely ask Nick to turn over your father’s personal effects.”

“What effects?” Tony asked suddenly curious as to how long Nick Fury had been spying on him. “I thought I was given everything.”

“Not everything,” Nick admitted as he picked up a fork and looked for a place to start. “Right before the accident, he gave me some of his journals and a tape he had personally recorded to you. He didn’t want Stane to get hold of them because he would have found a way to militarize the arc reactor technology.”

“Wish I had known that,” Tony muttered in disgust as he pushed around the food on his plate since his appetite had disappeared at the mention of Stane’s name. “Would have saved me a world of pain.”

“Indeed,” Nick agreed. “But, I had to let things play out.”

“Why?”

“Howard always claimed that you were his greatest achievement and I needed to know if that were true,” Nick explained.

“I can’t see my father being my biggest fan,” Tony grimly remarked. “But did I pass your test?”

“Yes,” Natalie answered for Nick not wanting the other man to keep toying with Tony. She needed Tony to find his badly needed cure, so they could figure out if they could survive as a couple. “Now, eat up so you can get back to work and I can keep Pepper from going insane.”

“Pushy, isn’t she?” Tony quipped with his tongue in cheek.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Nick remarked with a tired sigh before finally digging into his plate.

Tony looked at Natalie and cheekily commented, “Do tell?”

“Later,” she promised. “Now, eat.”


	6. Box of Treasures

“Sir,” Jarvis said once Tony had entered the workshop for the day. “I found the information on Ivan Vanko you had requested.”

“Let me have it,” Tony said with a tired sigh. He didn’t want to deal with the man, but he didn’t have anything to do until Fury delivered his father’s personal effects.

Jarvis downloaded the information onto the tablet Tony was fiddling with. “You may not like it.”

“I’ve been told a lot of things in the past few days that I haven’t liked, so what’s one more thing,” Tony tried to lightly quip, but his heart wasn’t into it.

“Indeed, sir,” Jarvis countered.

“I think you are sassing me again.”

“I am not capable of such an action.”

Tony was glad he hadn’t taken a sip from his glass of chlorophyll because he would have choked on it. Somewhere along the line Jarvis had developed a very dry sense of humor and Tony hadn’t picked up on it.

“You’re a pistol today, Jarvis.”

“If you say so, sir.”

Tony shook his head in bemusement. “Alright, J,” he said focusing on the problem at hand. “Give me the highlights.”

*&*&*&

Phil Coulson balanced the box of Howard Stark’s personal effects under one arm while he punched in the code to Tony’s workshop. He wasn’t happy about being Fury’s errand boy. He had more important things to do, but he went where he was told.

“Stark,” he called out as he entered the disorganized room.

“Coulson,” Tony greeted Phil. “What do you know about Anton Vanko?”

“That depends on how much you have already discovered,” Phil countered sitting the box on Tony’s workbench. He wasn’t surprised that Tony had gone looking for information on Vanko. “Here is what Fury promised you.”

“Nice dodge,” Tony remarked as he began to poke around the box.

“Years of practice,” Phil replied. “So what do you want to know?”

“Is it true that Howard screwed him over in the creation of the arc reactor?”

“More like he got caught trying to sell the idea to the Soviets, so your father had him deported. They in turn sent him to Siberia.”

“Not a good place to raise a kid,” Tony observed.

“No.”

“So what did Fury do with Ivan?”

“Dropped him down a deep dark hole.”

“Nice to know I won’t have to worry about him coming back to kick my ass again,” Tony quipped with wry humor. He knew it had been more luck than his skill in the suit that had him surviving the encounter with Vanko in the first place.

“Agent Romanov will be staying in place just in case something unexpected happens,” Phil informed Tony.

“Such as?”

“You pissing off another senator,” Phil answered with a knowing smirk. He had enjoyed the show Tony had put on at the hearing that Sterns had called him in front of. It just proved that the man was an idiot and bore watching since even idiots were known for causing earth shattering problems.

“Or somebody breaking Ivan out of that deep dark hole Fury had you toss him in,” Tony added with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He was getting tired of being reminded that he didn’t play well with others.

“There is that,” Phil agreed. “But if you continue to behave yourself, then we won’t have any messes to clean up will we.”

“Yes, dear.”

Phil shook his head in tired bemusement. “You’re not as amusing as you think you are.”

Tony shrugged. He wasn’t trying to be amusing. He just wanted to end their conversation, so he could seriously go through what Phil brought and find the solution to his problem.

“Right,” Phil said as he turned to leave. “Behave, and if you need anything, don’t call me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”


	7. Dinner date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony offhandedly asks Natasha out to dinner.

Natalie looked up from typing a memo when she heard somebody clear their throat. “Mr. Stark,” she formally greeted him.

“Miss Rushman,” Tony returned her greeting with a smile.

“What may I do for you?”

“Before life got the better of me, I had a crazy idea to revive my father’s dream of the Stark Expo. I was wondering if Pepper had put any of the stuff in storage,” Tony answered silently praying that Pepper hadn’t thrown the stuff away in a fit of anger.

“I believe she turned your old office into a storage room for all of your half finished projects,” Natalie informed him while pulling the key to his old office from a desk drawer and holding it out to him.

 _Ouch_ , Tony thought to himself as he accepted the key from Natalie. “I guess I should consider myself lucky I’m not dumpster diving for them.”

Natalie nodded. She had a large amount of work to finish before leaving the office for the day and didn’t have time to babysit Tony. “Is there anything else you need?”

“A miracle,” Tony bitterly quipped.

“I’m not one for positive thinking,” Natalie informed Tony. “But, I’m certain there is a miracle in your near future.”

“I appreciate the effort,” Tony quietly remarked. He really did appreciate Natalie’s pragmatic effort to cheer him up.

“As you should,” Natalie gently teased Tony

“I better get cracking then,” Tony said with a sly smirk. He knew what Natalie was playing at, and for once he decided to play along. “Since I’ve got a date with an amazing woman and I don’t want to be late for it.”

“Should I make reservation for eight or eight-thirty?”

“Let’s shoot for eight-thirty,” Tony decided. He knew how he was when he started science bingeing, so he wanted to have plenty of time to get ready for their dinner date. “And you get to pick the place.”

“That is a dangerous suggestion.”

“No more than telling a woman how she really looks in a pair of jeans.”

“You truly do not possess a sense of self-preservation, do you?” Natalie inquired in wry bemusement.

“If I did, then I wouldn’t be in the predicament that I currently find myself in,” Tony lightly retorted.

“Good point,” Natalie agreed. “So Spago’s?”

“Sounds good to me,” Tony remarked. “I haven’t been there in awhile.”

“Alright,” Natalie said as she picked up her phone to call the restaurant and make the reservation. “Now, shoo.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tony quipped with a jaunty salute before heading into his old office.


	8. Spago's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finds his miracle and celebrates that fact with Natasha.

A sudden chill ran down Tony’s spine as he entered his old office. Everything was covered in cloth dust covers and it reminded him of the Wild West ghost town he had visited as a kid.

He was tempted to look under everything to make certain his father’s ghost wasn’t lurking around to scare the shit out of him, because that was how his luck was running of late.

“Stop being a ninny, Stark,” he told himself out loud.

He shook himself and metaphorically girded his loins as he stepped over to a long table and pulled the cloth back to reveal the mock up model of the 1974 Stark Expo.

According to his father’s notes and home movies concerning the ’74 Expo, the miracle he so desperately sought was somewhere in the model, but he couldn’t find it at first glance liked he hoped he would.

He removed the cloth completely tossing it off to the side. He then started taking the model apart since it would be easier to transport back to his lab that way. He leaned the pieces up against the wall where several pieces of modern art had once been displayed.

He stepped back and studied the model thinking he saw the outline of some kind of atom. He took a picture and uploaded it to Jarvis and ordered him to work on it while he transported the model back to the mansion.

*&*

“Sir, I finished compiling the data you sent me and you are correct. It is an atom, but an atom of an unknown element,” Jarvis informed Tony as he entered his lab with the first piece of the ’74 Expo display.

“Does it look like a viable replacement for palladium? Can it be replicated?” Tony quickly asked abandoning the piece of model against an equipment storage locker.

“Yes and possibly.”

Tony clapped his hands together in unrestrained glee. “Thanks, dad,” he whispered under his breath. Something was finally looking up for him. 

He looked over at his bots and said, “We are back in hardware mode, boys. It’s time to create a new element.”

*&*

Tony was putting the finishing touches on his newly constructed laser when Jarvis interrupted him with, “You need to stop, sir, or you will be late for your dinner date.”

“Damnit!” Tony swore in frustration. “Another ten minutes and we would have had a new element on our hands.”

“Would you like me to call and postpone it, sir?”

“No,” Tony answered as he began to put away some of the tools he had used to build the laser. “I made a promise to be there and I’ll be there.”

“Yes, sir.”

*&*

Tony entered Spago’s freshly showered and shaved wearing one of his more tasteful suits. 

“Good evening, Mr. Stark,” the maitr’d said upon seeing Tony. “It has been a while since we have seen you.”

“Yes, it has been,” Tony agreed not interested in small talk. “I’m meeting a Miss Rushman for dinner.”

“She is waiting for you at the bar,” the maitr’d answered Tony’s unspoken question. “We have your usual table ready for you.”

“Thank you,” Tony said as he shook the man’s hand and slipped him a hundred dollar tip.

“You have an enjoyable evening, Mr. Stark,” the maitr’d said slipping his tip in his pocket before going to greet his next guest.

“I’m sure I will,” Tony remarked, but mainly to himself as he headed to the bar.

*&*

Natasha watched Tony’s interaction with the maitr’d with an amused smile. She could tell he was trying so hard to be a polite and mature member of society when all he wanted to do was stay cooped up in his lab trying to save his life.

“What do you find so amusing?” he asked her once he reached where she was sitting at the bar.

“You trying to be polite,” she told him as she held out her hand so he could help her off her stool.

“Oh, shush you,” he grumbled as he helped her stand and then led her to his usual table.

“You are trying too hard,” she told him once they were seated and perusing the menu.

“Maybe so,” Tony countered not in the mood to be psychoanalyzed. “But, so are you.”

“You got me,” Natasha said with a soft chuckle.

“So we start over?”

“Alright,” Natasha agreed.

“Is there anything you’re dying to try here or can we blow this place and head back to the mansion for pizza and beer?” Tony inquired as he closed his menu and set it aside. He wasn’t really hungry, so nothing on the menu interested him. He wanted to get back to his lab and create his father’s new element.

“So you found your miracle?” Natasha countered.

“In a matter of speaking,” Tony replied. “I’ve got this really cool laser built in my lab all ready to create a new element. Which if Jarvis’ calculations are correct will be a viable replacement for palladium.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“Then I die,” Tony simply answered. “But it will be on my terms.”

“Admirable.”

“I’m still scared shitless,” Tony quietly admitted his fear of dying. “So, not really.”

“If you are that afraid of dying, then there is a big part of you who wants to keep on living,” Natasha softly advised him. She didn’t fear death like normal people did because she had seen and caused enough of it to be immune to it.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Tony said agreeing with her.

“You guess so?”

“Okay,” Tony sighed. “I want to live if only to piss Fury off.”

“That might do it,” Natasha said with a soft chuckle and a shake of her head. “You do have a wonderful way of doing that.”

Tony shrugged. “So do we eat here or back at the mansion?”

“Here,” Natasha replied. “I bought this dress especially for this occasion.”

“Well, in that case, dinning here it is,” Tony said as he picked up his menu again.

“I’m glad you see it my way,” Natasha gently teased.

Tony didn’t rise to the bait. He signaled for the waitress, so he could place their order.


	9. Spago's 2

Natasha relaxed back in her seat and watched with barely contained amusement as Tony finished his dessert with the enthusiasm of a small child.

"What?" he inquired as he picked up his napkin and wiped the traces of tiramisu from his mouth.

"Nothing," she quietly answered instinctively knowing what his next question would be.

"Did I miss a spot?"

"No," she replied with a reassuring smile. "You're good."

"But something amused you," Tony observed as he set his napkin aside.

"It's not often I see someone enjoy their dessert like you have tonight," Natasha explained. Spies like her often saw the bad side of people, and it was nice to be with someone who was trying to be genuine.

"I prefer to fully enjoy the sweeter things in life," Tony said with a wry grin. He silently hoped he hadn't scared Natasha with his eccentric behavior. It had been a deal breaker with some of his previous "dates".

"That's a good motto to live by."

"I may have lived by it a little too fully in the past decade or so," Tony admitted knowing that his outlandish behavior prior to Afghanistan would always haunt him.

"Yes," Natasha murmured. "I'm surprised that Pepper doesn't have more gray hair than she does."

"You're cute," Tony retorted barely refraining from rolling his eyes at her.

"You're a handful," Natasha tossed back feeling like she was dealing with her partner instead of a notorious playboy.

"Interested in taming me?" Tony countered with a slight smirk.

"That's a loaded question."

"Yes," Tony agreed firmly placing the ball in Natasha's court. "So?"

"I'll consider it once I know you're no longer in danger of dying," Natasha diplomatically said. She didn't want to be the final conquest of a dying man. It did bad things to one's confidence, and many times that was all she had to get her through a difficult mission.

"I'd call you a party pooper, but you do have a valid point," Tony agreed. He wanted to be free of the effects of the palladium poisoning before embarking on any kind of sexual encounter.

"I do?"

"You do."

"Hmmm..."

"Surprised you again?"

"Yes, you did."

Tony softly sighed. "I'm really a nice, quiet, reserved kind of guy."

"I know," Natasha acknowledged. She had come to know that there was more to Tony Stark than his brash exterior. "It's just interesting to see that side of you since all you have ever shown the world is the hard partying frat boy."

"Apparently, outrageous behavior sells weapons," Tony lightly quipped.

"Not sure that helped, but it certainly entertained the troops," Natasha remarked remembering the video she had seen of Tony prior to the firefight that ended in his capture by the Ten Rings.

"I like to do my part to boost morale."

"But of course," Natasha remarked not certain where to steer the conversation next. She wasn't greet with small talk. She left that up to her handler since her previous masters had trained her to be a love them and kill them kind of spy.

Sensing that a change of topic was needed, Tony gently inquired, "How about we blow this pop stand?"

"Go where and do what exactly?"

"Go back to my place and I show you what I have been up to all afternoon," Tony replied as he motioned for their waitress to bring their bill.

"And what exactly was that?"

"Rediscovering a new element," Tony answered as he handed their waitress his Black Am Ex card and watched her walk away with it.

"How did you manage to do that in the limited amount of time you had?" Natasha softly asked. She genuinely thought he had taken the stuff from his old office and got caught up in the past instead of honestly looking for his miracle.

"Followed the breadcrumbs my father had sprinkled through out his model of the '74 Stark Expo," Tony explained what he and Jarvis had done. "I even caught a glimpse of a younger me playing with it at one point."

"Bet you were adorable," Natasha surmised with a teasing smile.

"As cute as a bug in a rug," Tony retorted with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

Natasha softly snorted in amusement at his description which caused Tony to stick his tongue out at her.

"Very mature."

"But of course," Tony countered just as their waitress returned with his card.

Natasha quietly shook her head. It was rarely dull around Tony.

Tony shrugged. He accept his card back. He then signed the receipt and returned it to their waitress with a generous tip which she then placed in her apron. She thanked them for their business, wished them a good evening and walked away. "Now where were we?"

"Show and tell at your place," Natasha answered.

Tony pushed his seat back and stood up. He walked around the table and held out his hand to her. "Shall we go then?"

"Certainly," Natasha agreed as she let Tony help her up and escort her from the restaurant.


End file.
